Horn Growth - Judging early scouting

[BPKHunter]

Buddy drew a good tag so I started scouting this weekend. Saw quite a few bucks, and many with 4x4 racks.

Trying to figure out how much I can read into what I saw this early.

Do they only add new length from here on out, or can they continue to add width after they turn up and fork? Do they add kicker's later or would those be present now?

 

[travishunter3006]

Most deer aren't fully grown this time of year. You can probably expect more growth

 

[mntman]

Antlers grow from the tips, not the base. So what ever the spread distance is now will remain there IF the beams are curled around to the front. IF they are still angled out then they will continue to get wider.
Lots of growing time yet for them.

Mntman

"Hunting is where you prove yourself"


Let me guess, you drive a 1 ton with oak trees for smoke stacks, 12" lift kit and 40" tires to pull a single place lawn mower trailer?

 

[Rizzy]

I was wondering the same thing. I took this pic about 3 weeks ago. So this little guy still had some width to put on? The buck he was with had black antlers and was already forked out past his ears at the time of the pic.

 

[kzkammo]

Here is a buck I got a pic of this weekend you kinda have to zoom in a little

 

[huntinfanatic]

Rizzy,
That buck will definately get wider than he is in that pic.

 

[desertbonehunter]

Really depends on the deer. My brother and I started scouting for my last archery tag on the 4th of July. We found two huge bucks, the typical buck was pretty much fully grown and was almost 200" The buck I ended up getting wasn't even close to done growing and he was also right around 200" at that time, and from then to my hunt he exploded and put on nearly 30 more inches. A lot depends on moisture too and as dry as it has been most places, its really gonna hurt growth.

 

[fly4fish]

>Really depends on the deer.<

agree

 

[littlebighorn]

+1 to dbone.

I scouted this time of year several years ago. We saw one buck that looked like he was almost completely developed and by the archery hunt he looked very similar to our early sighting.
Yet another monster only had baseball bats coming out of his head on July 4. He was very visible and we watched week by week as he turned into a 34 inch monster with mass to die for.
The problem was everyone in the county knew this 200+" typical and on opening morning there were 30 hunters surrounding his haunt. He vanished and none of us ever saw him again.

 

[BPKHunter]

So watching one buck in particular, he added about 2" of tine length just from the previous friday to this last friday(July 12). Hoping to get about 2 more inches before he stops.